Conspiracy Theories the Government was Involved with

Seventeen years ago a tragic event, 9/11, took place in New York. September 11, 2001 was the date on which a terrorist hijacked flights to target the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and the White House. The attack caused rapid destruction of the buildings and distress in people throughout the world. Throughout time, evidence was collected and analyzed; the evidence led to unanswered questions. This disastrous event led to the development of conspiracy theories that 9/11 was not a terrorist attack and that instead the government carried out the attack.

The United States government was in disbelief that the Twin Towers in New York City were targeted by terrorist. Although the government portrayed themselves as in despair and fear for the country, it was to cover up the fact that they were the ones who developed the idea of pretending that a terrorist attack took place. This claim can be summed up by Beata Safrany, who states, "The 9/11 conspiracy theorists claim that the US government used the attacks of September 11, 2001, to gain power over the Middle East and over the American people" (11). The authorities gradually realized that their country was in need to be portrayed as resilient. The government was seeking attention and possible war. The terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, that the authorities accused of being a part of this attack was never the true enemy of the United States. The organization that Bin Laden was supposedly the head of, did not exist and he is a phantom enemy. In addition, there is a suspicion that the second video created of Bin Laden is an imposter video. It is necessary to realize that a possible connection exists between the CIA and Bin Laden. This connection was recognized during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Conspiracy theorists allege that, " Bin Laden worked as a CIA agent under the codename Tim Osman" (Safrany 11). While Bin Laden worked as a CIA agent, he was military trained. At one point Bin Laden was in an American hospital being treated for a serious medical issue. If Bin Laden was a true enemy of the United States, we would not have been associated with him or supported him with medical treatment and weapons. The government used Bin Laden to their advantage to create the impeccable attack on the Twin Towers.

The attack on the Twin Towers appears to have been completed by an airplane. The Twin Towers that were located in New York were enormous and would be almost impossible to be demolished by an airplane. According to Dave Thomas, "The Twin Towers collapsed at free-fall acceleration through the path of greatest resistance" (Thomas). Free-fall accelerations support the idea that the towers collapsed with zero resistance. It additionally provides evidence that explosives were involved in the destruction of the Twin Towers. Other evidence that explosives were involved in the destruction of the Twin Towers is that debris was found hundreds of feet away. Throughout the investigation, there was Nano-thermite and military-grade explosives found in dust from the towers. Nano-thermite is capable of melting steel; there was tons of melted steel found within the tower debris. Obviously, an airplane had still hit one of the Twin Towers, but in a timely manner where the explosives went off to complete the destruction of the towers. The one Twin Tower, Tower 7, was not even hit by a plane at all, it was only affected by small fires throughout. For example, "We’re told that it wasn’t hit by a plane and was subjected to just a few ??small office fires.’ Yet it collapsed anyway, late in the afternoon of September 11, ??falling neatly into its own footprint at free fall acceleration, just like a normal controlled demolition’" (Thomas). Due to the destruction caused by the fires, the Tower had collapsed precisely into its own footprint. This confirms the Tower crumbled identically to a controlled demolition. This supports that the complete destruction of the Twin Towers was not from an airplane striking or targeting the Tower. Explosives and fires that occurred due to the government being behind this attack demolished the Twin Towers.

The Pentagon was a part of the attacks during 9/11 and was struck by the American Airlines Flight 77. Although the Pentagon was reported to be struck by an airplane, the damage was minor compared to the damage that would occur from an airplane. Airplanes are rather large machines due to their purpose being to carry hundreds of passengers to a distant destination. The video footage of the attack on the Pentagon was observed and does not support the idea of the building being hit by an airplane. For example, "Theorists maintain this was evidence that the Pentagon was not struck by Flight 77, but by a missile or unmanned drone instead" ("5 Compelling 9/11 Conspiracy Theories"). Theorists concluded that the Pentagon was struck with a missile due to supporting evidence such as the extent of the damage and difficulties with the plane. The size of the damage to the Pentagon did not match the size of a passenger airplane but rather close to the size of a missile. The damage had to have occurred from a missile because Flight 77 came across some electrical and mechanical difficulties. The control towers had no sight of the airplane or radio connection to the plane. There was a strong suspicion that Flight 77 had crashed. Flight 77 was a missing plane and it was apparent that a different flight was en route for Washington. The military was sent out due to this chaos and confusion of the situation where a missile mistakenly struck the Pentagon. Therefore, the American Airlines Flight 77 was not involved with the damage done to the Pentagon.

The United Airlines Flight 93 was reported to be taken over by terrorists. The terrorists had the White House, located in the nation’s capital, set as their target. The passengers on board had attempted to rescue the plane which then lead to the flight crashing into an open field. The destruction at the crash site of the plane did not match the destruction that should have taken place due to the massive size of this airliner. The destruction of the airplane was described to be spread throughout the field. If the passengers were the cause for the crash, then the destruction at the crash would be different. According to the 5 Compelling 9/11 Conspiracy Theories, "As with the Pentagon attack, theorists state that little plane wreckage was actually discovered in the field and the crash site itself was too small for an airliner that size, arguing instead that the plane was shot down by the military and so it disintegrated over a larger area" ("5 Compelling 9/11 Conspiracy Theories").

If Flight 93 had struck the ground, the destruction would be in a relatively small area, but it would have caused a large amount of damage. The passengers were being discovered as heroes and the military were not approving. For example, "While conspiracy theories about faked phone conversations, doctored transcripts based on the plane’s recovered voice recorder, and military intervention to shoot down the plane unofficially circulated" (Weber 139). This supports that the passengers were making phone calls and reaching out for assistance to have a chance of survival. It was then discovered that the plane was targeted by a missile through fake recovered phone conversations and voice recordings. The military had to portray themselves as the hero, which gave them a reason to shoot down Flight 93 with a missile before it officially crashed.

Conspiracy theories are commonly perceived as favorable for the obsessed or irrational people. Although conspiracy theories are viewed as a reason to argue history, they are important to society’s position or control. Accepting conspiracy theories allows for diversity to evolve and history to be viewed in a different way. Conspiracy theories have the possibility of revealing the hidden truth and bring the desire to understand what occurred in history. In certain circumstances, conspiracy theories allow for the sense of security. In the American context, " Goldberg (2001) argues that conspiracy theory is part of the rendering of American history as a story about America’s position and power" (Jamil and Rousseau 247). This supports that conspiracy theories are leading to a new revolution within the field of history. The acceptance and belief of these theories of the tragic event, 9/11, reveals new possibilities or truth on how this accident transpired. Society tends to put trust into the government and believe the information they convey, only because of fear of the government’s power. The government’s power influences the psychological aspect of society, so people will not want to recognize that conspiracy theories reveal the actual truth.

The government officials persist that conspiracy theories are developed from someone with an unstable mindset. In contrast, Maggie Koerth-Baker states, "Perfectly sane minds possess an incredible capacity for developing narratives, and even some of the wildest conspiracy theories can be grounded in rational thinking, which makes them that much more pernicious" (339). Recently the growth of belief in conspiracy theories is growing, and this is because if one believes in a conspiracy theory, they are likely to believe in other theories. The government views this as a danger because as more rational minds pursue conspiracy theories, the probability of a revolution occurring is higher. The officials of America fear the loss of control over society. Conspiracy theories exist to expose the truth and provide people with the chance to understand history. The terrorist attack that occurred on September 11, 2001 was a supposedly unforeseen event.

Unfortunately, the attack was expected and destined to occur. The horrific destruction of the buildings left the community in despair. As with any disaster, an investigation took place and evidence was collected and analyzed. The evidence discovered from the damage of the buildings opened an opportunity for the development of conspiracy theories on how this terrorist attack occurred. Throughout time and scientific studies, it was discovered that the government developed a terrorist attack on 9/11.

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